Jet device



o D .4 U 6 A. H. BOHR JET DEVICE June 19, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 18. 1958 INVENTOR. Al fXA/VDEP H. 50M? June 19, 1962 BOHR 3,039,718

JET DEVLCE Filed June 18, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. 4L 674N059 A. 5 06 8 AGEN T A. H. BOHR JET DEVICE June 19, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 18, 1958 INVENTOR. flAfIfl/VDE? 801 /2 /f- AGENT 3,039,718 JET DEVICE Alexander H. Bohr, Sparta, N..l., assignor to ThlOlKOl Chemical Corporation, Trenton, N.J., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 18, 1958, Ser. No. 742,836 Claims. (Cl. 2444) The present invention relates to a device for reducing the effective weight of a person so as to enable the person to walk or run more rapidly and to jump or climb with more facility than would normally be the case. The person is, in effect, partially lifted from the ground. The present inventor has accomplished this by use of the reaction effect created by the expulsion of a fluid from a nozzle, the reaction being substantially upward by virtue of the downwardly aimed nozzle.

The present invention has great utility as a device for assisting foot soldiers or other persons to move rapidly over all sorts of terrain, thus providing a tactical advantage for quick rescue work in dangerous areas, for rapid first-aid efforts 'and for the carrying by a person or persons of unusually heavy loads. It is also useful as a sporting device for speed jumping or climbing contests.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device which a person may attach to himself for the purpose of reducing his effective weight so that he can use his muscles to greater advantage in walking, running, climbing, jumping and the like and thus attain greater performance in these actions than would otherwise be possible.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device which achieves the foregoing by means of the thrust of a reaction motor or motors.

It is also an object of the present invention to achieve the foregoing objects with a device which does not adversely affect the normal stability and ability to recover equilibrium of the person wearing the device.

It is another object to achieve the foregoing objects with a device which does not interfere with the normal movement of the persons arms and legs and which permits him to carry a pack or other load on the upper portion of his back or on his chest without interference or encumbrance.

It is another object to achieve the foregoing objects with a device of the type described wherein the wearer can select the duration of the operation of the device by the operation of one or more gas generating units or can repeat a number of jumping, running or the like operations without the necessity of reloading.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the specification and claims which follow.

With the present invention strapped to him, a man can use his muscles much more efiectively to move himself since his weight is lessened by a factor determined by the thrust output of the device. Normally this will be large enough to reduce his weight by about one-third to one-half, or more or less than that if desired.

However, the strength of his muscles will have remained the same, and as he uses them to walk, run, jump, climb or the like he finds himself capable of doing these things so easily that he can exceed the performance of the most athletic normal human being. As an example, a 160 pound man will have his effective weight reduced by about one-half through the employment of the present invention with a 40 pound thrust nozzle at each of his sides. He then can run for example 100 yards in about 5 seconds, much less time than is the present record for unaided humans, or can jump onto the roof of a onestory building where an unaided person could jump perhaps one-half of that height.

Patented June 19, 1962 In addition to the reduction of his effective weight, any movement of his torso forward with respect to the hips causes the nozzles to point rearwardly to some extent and results in a forward thrust as well as an upward thrust which aids him to move in that direction more easily. Conversely, a similar movement bending backward slightly points the nozzles slightly forward and results in a slowing or braking action to aid him to stop his forward motion.

It has been discovered by the inventor that it is essential to the stability of the wearer and his safety that the thrust line or extended thrust vector must pass sensibly through the center of gravity of the person, i.e. either exactly through the C6. or only so far from it that the person has no difliculty in keeping his equilibrium by ordinary movement of his body parts regardless of his attitude. In other words, with the man in a normal standing position, the forces should preferably pass through the CG. but in any event within the limits of sensibility of the person.

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of the device comprising the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary elevational view partly in section and to an increased scale showing a canister and its mounting on the manifold; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary front elevational view to a reduced scale of the mounting of the control knobs on the belt.

With reference to FIGURE 1, a harness is provided comprising a belt 10, leg loops or straps 11 adjustable by means of buckles 4-1, leg protector pads 12, back support protector 13 and belt buckle 14, all of which are firmly attached to belt 10. Fixedly attached to belt 10 by means of attachment fittings 15 is a hollow manifold 16 which passes around the back of the wearer and terminates at his sides in the vicinity of the hips of the person in identical nozzles '17 and 18. Nozzles 17 and 18 are in communication with manifold 16. Manifold 16 is provided with one or more canisters 19 arranged along manifold 16 and communicably connected to it and fastened by a bayonet type mount 30 which provides for positioning. A gasket type seal 37 is provided to make this a gas-tight connection. A cutaway view of a canister 19 and its mount to manifold 16 is shown in FIGURE 2, showing solid propellant grain 31 in the canister held in place by annular support 32 sprung into groove 47. Each canister 19 is sealed from the manifold in a gas-tight, heat-resistant manner by a disc of relatively thin metal 33 commonly known as a burst disc. Disc 33 is supported to a large extent on its side nearest the gas generating grain by the shoulder 33a and on its other side to a much lesser extent by a narrow snap ring 34 set in a groove 35 to hold disc 33 tightly in place against gasket 36 thereby providing a gas-tight seal.

Each canister 19 has a combustion initiator or igniter 23 extending from it in the manner shown in FIGURE 2 which comprises a cap receiver 24, a firing charge 46 and percussion cap 25 a press fit in place therein and a trigger mechanism including hammer 26 disposed in such relationship to cap 25 that it will strike upon cap 25. This relationship is determined by bayonet mount 30. Hammer 26 is pivoted on pin 27 which is in turn attached to manifold 16 by bracket 28, and hammer 26 is springloaded by means of spring 29. An actuating mechanism is utilized which includes a button or knob 38 for each canister 19 and which is located on the belt 10 of the harness alongside of its companion knobs as shown in FIGURE 3. Each knob 38 is attached to a slender wire or cable 39 which is encased and guided for most of its length in casing 40 attached to belt "10 and manifold 16 by clips 45 with all of the cables 39 encased in the same casing except where they enter the casing 40 or exit from it as shown.

The harness can be adjusted by means of buckles 41 on leg straps 11 to adapt it to persons of different size and to provide a means of alignment adjustment of the nozzles 17 and 18 to make sure that the net thrust lines of the nozzles pass sensibly close to the center of gravity of the wearer as previously discussed.

It has been discovered by the present inventor that it is desirable that the nozzles slant outward from the sides of the person so that the hot exhaust products from the nozzles do not cause injury to the person or damage clothing. Also, a stabilizing effect appears to take place if the thrust lines converge. Accordingly, in the drawings, the nozzles 17 and 18 are shown inclined outward from the vertical center line of the person. This angle is always less than 90 degrees so that the nozzle will produce a downward component, but is preferably about degrees from the vertical as a practical compromise. It has also been discovered that the net reactive thrusts on each side of the person should be substantially equal so that no overturning moment is created, and, that the net reactive thrust lines must be substantially in the same plane so that rotation of the persons body about its longitudinal axis will not occur.

In normal operation, with reference to the drawings, a person dons the harness placing each leg through the leg loops 11 and buckles the belt 10 tightly about his waist by means of buckle 14. He then stands erect with his kness unflexed. At this point, he pulls one of the knobs 38 which in turn pulls cable 39 and its attached hammer stop 42 which then slides 01f shoulder 43 of hammer 26. This action allows the hammer 26 to rotate about pin 27 under the tensile force of spring 29, and hammer 26 strikes forcibly on the sensitive portion of percussion cap 25 thereby discharging it. The heat of the burning firing charge 46 of cap 25 is transmitted through tube 24 into the central cavity 44 of the solid propellant 31 where it ignites the propellant. As the propellant burns, pressure develops very rapidly in canister 19 and disc 33 is broken or forced open to allow gas to flow rapidly from the canister 19 into manifold 16 where it fills manifold 16 and develops pressure which forces the gas out of each of the nozzles with substantially equal force, or at least that force necessary to produce a substantially equal net reactive thrust on each side of the person and, for all practical purposes, simultaneously. Upon this action, the wearer of the device simply starts to run, jump or the like in a normal manner. As discussed previously, he will find that his performance is much improved due to his reduced weight. Each unfired canister 19 is protected from the hot gases from another by means of burst disc 33 which is strong enough that with the support of shoulder 33a, it will not fail nor burst. It will, however, do so when its particular canister 19 is fired and the resultant high pressure acts upon it from the other direction.

The duration of any one canister 19 is about 2 seconds or sufficient to enable a person to run about 25 to 35 yards or to make one substantial jump. By pulling more than one knob 38, the person can increase the duration of operation depending upon the number of canisters. With the five canisters shown, 10 seconds total duration is provided. It should be understood that as many canisters 19 may be used as desired, recognizing that a small amount of weight is added to the device with each additional canister.

The solid propellant utilized can be one of the many now known in the art but is preferably one of the polysulfide, polyurethane or ammonium nitrate based propellants.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for decreasing the effective weight of a person in a generally vertical position comprising, in combination, a harness including a belt to be strapped about the waist of the person from front to rear and leave the chest and upper hack free of encumbrance and permit free movement of the limbs, a gas manifold mounted on the rear of said belt and having its ends terminating at the side areas thereof, a jet nozzle mounted adjacent each end of said manifold for receiving pressure gases therefrom, said nozzles being positioned so as to exert a reactive thrust in a vertical plane and being inclined away from one another so that their thrust vectors intersect, and pressure gas generating means mounted on said manifold and operative to supply pressure gases thereto and through said nozzles.

2. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein said harness includes leg encircling straps fixed thereto and adjustable to vary the alignment of said nozzles.

3. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein said means comprises a plurality of gas generators and a burst disc is positioned between each of said gas generating means and said manifold, said discs being supporting against bursting due to manifold pressure but being burstible by generated gas pressure in said gas generating means.

4. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein an initiator is mounted on said gas generating means, an initiator trigger mechanism is mounted on said manifold and a trigger actuator mechanism is operably connected to said initiator trigger mechanism.

5. A device as recited in claim 4 wherein said generating means comprises a plurality of separate units each having initiators and trigger mechanisms therefor, and selective trigger actuator mechanisms are mounted on said belt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,196,200 Batcher Aug. 29, 1916 2,312,976 Pels Mar. 2, 1943 2,509,603 Marin May 30, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 600,401 Great Britain Apr. 8, 1948 923,537 France Feb. 24, 1947 OTHER REFERENCES Cover of Speed Comics, vol. 1, No. 41, January 1946. 

